Shell
by Satanic Mechanic
Summary: Kratos and Mithos do some male bonding by the beach. Pregame, short and fluffy.


Just wanted to update with SOMETHING. I wrote this a while ago as a gift for someone. I am truly the laziest kind of writer, recycling things like I do! Not sure if they have an account here otherwise this space would be filled with a shout-out.

XXX

Mithos was in a foul mood. Under normal circumstances, most boys his age to would be happy to be where he was at the moment; enjoying a warm evening at the beach. Unfortunately, circumstances were just not on his side today, as was the case for most things recently. What Kratos had promised to be an enjoyable swim had turned out to be nothing more than a routine fishing trip. To top things off, Yuan had managed to take off with Martel whilst Mithos was distracted and the boy hadn't heard from them in a few hours.

So actually, to say that he was in a foul mood was a bit of an understatement. He had already exhausted most of his usual complaints and sophomoric whining. He had also thrown a good amount of unfortunate rocks into the sea to sate his boredom as well as dissipate a bit of his anger. Now the only thing left to do was glare at the back of Kratos' spiky head. It was all his fault anyway.

Summer had just begun but the ocean was still cold and the water bit at his ankles as he stood in the shallow tide. Kratos was only a few meters ahead of him and was working on catching them some dinner but was failing miserably. It was almost gratifying to watch him fail like that, though Mithos felt slightly guilty for thinking that way. Since the man had joined their party, Mithos had actually come to like the human quite a bit. Kratos served as an unlikely ally against the vicious pervert known as Yuan; the man who was trying to steal his sister away from him. You see, the two older men didn't get along too well, and it was always amusing for Mithos to watch Kratos put the fool in his place.

But now, Mithos had suffered a betrayal, and a most grievous one at that. Kratos seemed oblivious to the boy's anger, but then again, that could have been indifference Mithos was mistaking it for. He watched Kratos thrust the net into water once more, and once more he came up short. His now soaked bangs hung dripping in his face, but Mithos could still make out the look of determination in the human's eyes as he kept them glued on the water. It was nice to see he was bad at something at least, seeing as how he had already managed to out match Mithos in fighting, cooking and almost everything else.

"Mithos, this isn't funny," Kratos scolded as a fish he had almost managed to catch flopped out of the net and nearly hit him in the face, and this time Mithos contain his laugher. "You know, maybe if you helped we could get this done faster."

"I told you, I'm no good at this stuff." Mithos kept his eyes cast down towards the water as he bluffed and watched as a trout circled his ankle before it got scared off. The truth was he was more than able to catch himself a fish if need be, but he was feeling much too resentful to let Kratos know that. It was proving to be a rather amusing form of revenge.

"It would be good training for you. Improve your reflexes a bit," Kratos tried but Mithos only snorted at the statement. The older man had already used a similar line to get Mithos to wash dishes once, and it wasn't going to work now.

Instead, Mithos ignored Kratos's increasingly embarrassing quest and stepped onto the narrow beach. The sand was warm and pleasant as he dug his bare feet into it, and Mithos squinted against the afternoon sun as he tried to pick out something, anything that would be of interest on the beach. There were bits of sea-glass and broken shells strewed about the white sand and Mithos stepped around them as he made his way farther down the beach.

"Mithos?" He heard Kratos call out to him before the older man groaned and more splashing ensued. Mithos ignored what was probably the sound of their dinner not being caught and continued on his merry way. He thought he spied something that looked curious in the sand a bit further down.

It was getting late. The sun would be going down soon and they would surely be starving tonight if Kratos continued they way he was going now. Mithos knew the right thing to do would to be to turn around and help the man. He knew it, but he was still feeling much too immaturely scorned at the moment.

Still, the guilt he had been feeling earlier began to eat away at him as he continued walking down the beach. Kratos really was a good man, and had proved his worth far beyond what they were paying the mercenary in gald for; which was only to offer his protection on their journey. He had taken it upon himself to refine Mithos' fighting skills, and the boy was very grateful for the training as his swordsmanship was in dire need of help. He even helped Martel cook most nights. It really didn't seem fair not to help him out when he was in a bind, despite the minor betrayal Mithos had suffered earlier.

Resigning himself to begrudgingly help the man fish, Mithos was about to turn around before his toe bumped against something in the sand. He recognized it as the object he had spotted earlier. Kneeling over, Mithos dusted the thing off and lifted up the object that was a bit larger than his hand. It was a conch, Martel had told him about them before, and he let his fingers run over the smooth porcelain like feel of the spiraled shell as he studied it. Lifting the thing to his ear, Mithos smiled when he heard the sounds of the waves through the pink shell. Just like Martel had promised. His sister really did know everything; she was much too wonderful for that awful Yuan to touch.

"Kratos! Hey look!" Mithos came bounding up towards the man, kicking up sand and forgetting for the moment he was supposed to be angered with the mercenary in favor of wanting to show off his new treasure. "You can hear the ocean!"

Still fish-less and still dripping wet and grumpy looking, Kratos turned to meet the boy's excited gaze. "I can hear the ocean just fine right now, considering the fact that I'm drenched in it!" Kratos sighed, regretting the fact that he had let his voice rise to mirror his annoyance. That wasn't like him. "Put that down. This isn't a game."

Mithos let the smile he had been wearing fade as he met Kratos' disapproving gaze. "You say that about everything. You should learn some games, they're actually fun," he scowled as he tossed the shell somewhere over his shoulder. Though he knew he couldn't really blame Kratos for not being so happy for him, he was after all acting quite the royal brat today. "Let me…let me help," Mithos relinquished and Kratos didn't say a word as he handed over the second net he had brought along for the boy.

"They should be back soon," Kratos spoke after a few moments of silence, "I sent them out for some supplies." Mithos had already caught another couple of fish but he kept his gaze fixed on the water and nodded his head quietly at his mentor's belated explanation.

"The nearest town is almost an hour away," Mithos spoke his thoughts aloud as he considered the situation, "so…I guess if they need to get supplies then they won't have time for much else." The boy grimaced as he imagined the two of them playing kissy-face or any other number of sappy things they could be doing at the moment.

"That's right, don't worry so much Mithos. I know how protective you can be," Kratos trailed off as he watched Mithos do a stellar job catching their dinner. "You're really good at that. Thank you."

"O-oh?" Mithos stuttered slightly as he realized his mentor had just complimented him. "It's nothing, really," he smiled, suddenly finding it hard to remember why he was even mad with him in the first place. Kratos smiled back then, warm and accepting and it was such a marvelous sight. Especially considering the fact that it was such a rare sight.

"They'll be meeting us here in a few minutes, let's just relax for now," Kratos instructed as he lead the young half-elf out of the water. Mithos followed along without a word, smiling broadly without being able to help himself as he watched the man hang the net full of twitching fish on a nearby tree branch.

The blonde watched as Kratos less than gracefully splayed himself out on the sand, grunting as he stretched his battle strained limbs. The sun was going down but the sand was still warm and soothing as Mithos joined his companion on the ground. As the two of them gazed up at the dimming sky, Mithos found he was glad he had been tricked. It hadn't been such a horrible trip after all, and he felt very foolish for griping so much about it.

Quiet reflecting was cut short as Kratos hissed from beside him. Turning his head, Mithos watched as Kratos sat up slightly, picking up the offending object from the ground that had been digging into his back.

"Hey, that's…" the boy trailed off as Kratos brought the conch up to his ear.

"Hmm, you're right," Kratos spoke as he listened intently. In the distance there was the sound someone calling their names, but neither one seemed to notice. "You can hear the ocean." There was that smile again, and Mithos found himself wondering how lucky he must be to receive two in one night.

fin


End file.
